AN ARMY of sex-crazed monkeys terrorised a city after indulging in buffets of sugary drinks and snacks, it has been revealed.
The rampaging macaques are thought to have been made hyper-sexual and violent by sugar provided to them at an annual festival.
Business owners on the streets of Lopburi, Thailand have been forced to close indefinitely, while residents have had to flee or stay indoors and barricade their homes following the monkey invasion.
The city has now been completely overrun by some 3,500 monkeys, with certain parts deemed complete no-go zones due to gangs battling for supremacy on the streets.
But up until the invasion, the monkeys were a major tourist drawcard.
So popular were they that an annual Monkey Buffet Festival was introduced at the Phra Prang Sam Yot temple in 1989.
For decades, holidaymakers have flocked to the city to watch the monkeys gorge themselves on fruit and vegetables.
At each festival, the monkeys fill their bellies with two tonnes of food in front of 100,000 spectators.
It is a spectacle enjoyed by people from across the world, aimed at boosting the economy and honouring the traditional Lopburi belief that monkeys are disciples of protective spirit Jao Paw Phra Kan.
The festival is also thought to have led to a population boom.
Lopburi ran into a host of issues when the Covid-19 pandemic brought the event to a screeching halt.
Without their usual mountain of food to keep them fed and happy, the monkeys began attacking locals.
To appease them, people gave them junk food – including sweets, soft drinks, fruit drinks, chocolate, and cereal – but it only seemed to make the animals more violent.
Sugary foods are known to increase monkeys’ productivity and stimulate them to reproduce more.
The thousands of animals are now so invigorated that they’re stealing cars and causing chaos on the roads.
One local, Kuljira Taechawattanawanna, told AFP: “We live in a cage but the monkeys live outside.”
And a market vendor, Somsaksri Janhon, told the Guardian: “The monkeys are hungrier and more aggressive than before.
“They take anything they can. The comb, the mirror. If I leave the food unattended, they steal the food as well.”
Thailand’s Department of National Parks has launched a sterilisation programme to try and regain control of the wild monkeys.
Officials successfully sterilised several hundred monkeys in 2020 by luring them into cages with large fruits.
